Donkey Kong

Donkey Kong is the arcade game that rescued Nintendo's American business and, along the way, invented the platformer. It is also the first game Shigeru Miyamoto designed, and the first appearance of a character who would eventually be renamed Mario.

The structure is four screens, and each one changes the rules. In 25m you climb girders while barrels roll down; in 50m you walk conveyor belts that reverse and threaten to drag you into the press; 75m is a vertical climb through bouncing springs; and 100m is a rivet puzzle where you pull eight pins to make the ape fall. There is no jump physics to speak of - Mario's leap is committed and short - so the game is about route planning against barrels that follow you down ladders. Nintendo originally shipped it with a deliberately unlicensed-looking cabinet, and the plan worked: it pulled the company out of debt and became one of the highest-grossing arcade machines ever built. Note the slug: this is the 1981 arcade original, distinct from the Famicom conversion.

• ▸Four screens with completely different mechanics
• ▸Barrels that choose ladders based on where you are standing
• ▸The debut of the character later renamed Mario
• ▸The hammer - a temporary weapon that also drains your time